AfD is toying with new elections: The clock in Saxony-Anhalt is not ticking yet

Chaos instead of a dream election goal: With 43.8 percent of the vote, the AfD has 39 seats in the Magdeburg state parliament. That is 3 too few for an absolute majority and to form a government alone. And no one wants to govern together with the right-wing extremists. A government made up of the CDU, SPD, Greens, Left and BSW? Theoretically possible, but practically unlikely. Because the CDU has not yet wanted to move away from its incompatible stance towards the Left Party.

So you look all the way to the right again to the AfD, whose poster boy Ulrich Siegmund is already celebrating new elections. “In an emergency there would be new elections, then we would have 50 or 55 percent,” he said on ZDF, confident of victory. But it's not that far yet.

The only deadline that runs so far is until the first meeting of the new state parliament. This must happen by the 30th day after the election, i.e. by October 6th. This is required by Article 43 paragraph 1 of the state constitution. Until then, the old state parliament remains legally capable of acting.

The constituent meeting is usually called by the old president of the state parliament, Gunnar Schellenberger from the CDU. Or it must be convened immediately at the request of a quarter of the members of the state parliament or the state government. In this meeting, among other things, a new President of the State Parliament will be elected and the rules of procedure will be voted on. The election of the Prime Minister does not have to be on the agenda.

In Saxony-Anhalt there is no statutory deadline by which a new Prime Minister must be elected. Discussions about possible collaboration are usually held first.

After the election, Siegmund announced that he would extend his right hand towards the other parties. But no one will probably take it. The only party that has not yet clearly rejected the AfD is the BSW, which recently entered the state parliament with 5.3 percent. However, BSW co-chair Amira Mohamed Ali explained that she saw few similarities.

There is still the possibility that a group of MPs will request that the election be initiated.

In the first round of voting, the person who receives the majority of the members of the state parliament is elected in accordance with Article 65 paragraph 2. With 83 MPs, that's 42 votes. That would be the absolute majority. The AfD would then have to hope that there would be defectors from other parties. That cannot be ruled out, the vote is secret. The right-wing extremists cannot rely on that. If Siegmund fails in the first round, the second round of voting must take place within seven days. Same rules. Same scenario possible.

The state parliament must then decide within 14 days whether it will dissolve early. The majority of all members would also have to agree to this. If they do not do this, Siegmund would go to a third round of voting in which he would only need a simple majority.

The BSW announced that it would abstain in this case. Then it would be 39:39 between AfD and the other parties. This means that Siegmund would not have a majority.

“If there is a stalemate, elections will continue until a simple majority is found,” says former state constitutional judge Michael Kilian, professor of public law at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, to the dpa.

If the third round of voting fails, this is only possible after six months and with a two-thirds majority, according to Article 60.

The old Prime Minister Sven Schulze remains in office throughout the entire process. The state constitution does not set a deadline for how long this can take. In the past that was sometimes nine months.